Retail gas stations have large outdoor signs that display the price they are charging for various grades of gasoline. These signs have to be changed often because of the volatility of gas prices. When the weather is bad it is often difficult for employees to get outside and change the signs.
Most retail gas outlets make only a few cents per gallon of gasoline, however if the price of a store's gasoline is out of line with local competitors prices, they will not have as many customers enter the store and buy the high margin items. As a result, retail gas stores need to know what their competitors are charging for gasoline as well as other price factors, such as the weather, spot price of crude, etc. to properly set their price. While all this data is important it may overwhelm the retail gas station owner. As a result, it is also important to have a system for digesting the price factor data and providing a price or range of prices. There are some systems that provide price data and other systems that provide systems to analyze the data and set the price. There are also controllable price signs. However, there are no systems that combine all these needed features together.
Thus there exists a need for a system that collects price data, analyzes the price data to determine an optimal price, implement a price change at the store and updates a price sign.